gundamfandomcom-20200223-history
XMA-01 Rafflesia
The XMA-01 Rafflesia is an extremely powerful mobile armor produced by the Crossbone Vanguard militia in the Gundam movie Mobile Suit Gundam F91. It was piloted by Carozzo "Iron Mask" Ronah. Technological & Combat Characteristics This huge mobile armor is one of the products of Iron Mask's secret Rafflesia Project. The Rafflesia resembles a giant flower, and its main body houses a battery of powerful beam cannons and beam guns capable of destroying multiple Earth Federation Forces battleships in one salvo or to unleash a widespread barrage of beams that cover a wide area. Its five massive "petal binders" are each equipped with a single mega beam cannon, 25 tentacle rods for grappling enemy mobile suits, and four forward facing rocket thrusters. When the petal binder are closed and the Rafflesia is in "cruise mode", the mega beam cannons are forward facing, alongside the Rafflesia's other ranged beam weapons, however the tentacle rods cannot be used. The Rafflesia can only use its close combat tentacle rods when the petal binders are open. The mobile armor is also equipped with an I-field generator whose barrier deflects all enemy beam weapons. The Rafflesia dispensed with manual controls, and was instead operated by direct mental command using the Neo-Psycommu system. The pilot, Carozzo, linked his receptor-filled helmet to the mobile armor with a snake's nest of fiber-optic cables. Like most mobile weapons, the Rafflesia is not designed to be operated for long periods of time. For this reason, Carozzo Ronah had the Crossbone Vanguard's flagship designed to store the Rafflesia in a secret hanger, where it could be refueled and repaired, that only authorized personnel were allowed to enter. One unusual feature of the Rafflesia is how the armor around the top half of the cockpit can be removed, revealing a glass half-sphere that allows the pilot to look out into space. Armaments ;*Beam Cannon :The XMA-01 Rafflesia is equipped with a cluster of 4 beam cannons that emerge from the tip of the "stalk". When the petal binders are closed and the Rafflesia is in cruise mode these beam cannons are forward facing, the profile allowing the Rafflesia to bring its maximum number of ranged weapons to bear on a target area. When the petal binders are open and the Rafflesia is in its close combat mode, these beam cannons face downward relative to the mobile armors orientation. ;*Mega Particle Gun :On the XMA-01 Rafflesia's mounts five mega particle guns on the "stalk" of its body, each one situated between two of the petal binders, right above a rocket thruster. When the petal binders are closed and the Rafflesia is in cruise mode these beam cannons are forward facing, the profile allowing the Rafflesia to bring its maximum number of ranged weapons to bear on a target area. When the petal binders are open and the Rafflesia is in its close combat mode, these beam cannons face downward relative to the mobile armors orientation. ;*Petal Mega Beam Cannon :The XMA-01 Rafflesia's five petals are each equipped with a single mega beam cannon. When the petal binders are closed and the Rafflesia is in cruise mode these beam cannons are forward facing, the profile allowing the Rafflesia to bring its maximum number of ranged weapons to bear on a target area. When the petal binders are open and the Rafflesia is in its close combat mode, these beam cannons face downward and away from the mobile armor's main body at forty-five degree angle. These powerful weapons can easily pierce a battleship's armor. ;*Scattering Beam Cannon :The XMA-01 Rafflesia is equipped with 8 scattering beam cannons that encircle the tip of the mobile armor's "stalk". When the petal binders are closed and the Rafflesia is in cruise mode these beam cannons are forward facing, the profile allowing the Rafflesia to bring its maximum number of ranged weapons to bear on a target area. When the petal binders are open and the Rafflesia is in its close combat mode, these beam cannons face downward relative to the mobile armors orientation. ;*Tentacle Rod :The XMA-01 Rafflesia's most unique weapon is its tentacle rods, of which it is equipped with a total of 125, 25 per each petal binders. These tentacle rods are highly flexible weapons, similar to their namesake appendage. The tip of each tentacle rod mounts a single superheated chainsaw tip, a melee combat weapon that combines the superheated blade technology from the mobile suits used by the Principality of Zeon during the One Year War with the concept of a revolving chain blade. While not as effective as a beam saber the superheated chainsaw drains less energy, and makes up for its small shortcoming by weight of numbers and how the tentacles can be used to ensnare mobile suits, rendering them helpless. Each tip also contains a small beam gun that, while weaker than the guns mounted on the body, allows the Rafflesia to perform an all-range attack. Because of the number and complexity of the Rafflesia's tentacle rods they can only be controlled through the neo-psycommu system which can be utilized by Cyber-Newtypes. ;*Bug :Used by Kei Karima's customized Gunpla to attack and overwhelm opponents from multiple directions. Special Equipment ;*Neo-Psycommu System :A unique operating system derived from the F91's Bio-Computer, it allows the Rafflesia to be controlled by its pilot's thoughts alone through a large number of fiber-optics connected to the pilot's head. ;*I-Field Generator History Mobile Suit Gundam F91 The Rafflesia Project was initiated in UC 0119 under command of Crossbone Vanguard leader Carozzo “Iron Mask” Ronah. The Rafflesia entered combat in March UC 0123; Ronah's goals were to destroy the Federation Forces and to stop his own daughter, Berah Ronah (a.k.a. Cecily Fairchild), who sought to prevent his plan to wipe out all humans on Earth with his Bug weapons. He first attacked a fleet of Earth Federation ships, which proved no match for the powerful mobile armor. Later, he was attacked by Cecily in her XM-07 Vigna Ghina and her friend, Seabook Arno of the F91 Gundam F91, but Cecily’s suit soon took heavy damage and she herself was thrown into space by Iron Mask. Seabook was able to inflict some damage on the Rafflesia by detonating the vacant Vigna Ghina. With the mobile armor damaged Seabook used the F91's special afterimages ability to dodge the Rafflesia's tentacle rods and confuse Iron Mask to the point he was focused more on catching the F91 than paying attention to where the tentacles were. Seabook took advantage of this by moving the F91 directly in front of the Rafflesia's cockpit, then flying away. By the time Carozzo realized what Seabook had done it was too late as the tentacles crashed into the cockpit, the superheated chainsaw tips cutting through it, and Carozzo, like butter. Gundam Build Fighters Try A 1/144 XMA-01 Rafflesia was built by Kei Karima, and used it as his entry for the Meijin Cup Open Course (an artistic Gunpla competition). However, due to the kit being too big to fit in a display case, it was disqualified. Upon learning this, Kei demanded to know why he's not the champion and attacks everyone with his Rafflesia's Bugs. Shimon uses the Destiny Impulse to destroy some Bugs, aided by Yomi in the LM312V04 Amethyst Victory Gundam. A RGM-109 Heavygun is rescued by Captain Char as the Gundam Albion and Unicorn Gundam destroy most of the Bugs. An RX-105 Ξ Gundam joins in with the Shiki triplets in destroying the Rafflesia. Gallery XMA-01 Rafflesia Lineart.jpg|XMA-01 Rafflesia Lineart xma-01-cockpit.jpg|Line art - cockpit xma-01-tentaclerodtip.jpg|Line art - Tentacle Rod's chainsaw tip XMA-01.jpeg|Rafflesia: phases of design by Yoshiyuki Tomino (concept; left) and Junya Ishigaki (first drafts; center and right) rafflesia.jpg|Rafflesia (from Gundam Perfect File) Rafflesia gundam_f91 mecha okawara_kunio.jpg|Illustration by Kunio Okawara F91 mechs (1).png|Rafflesia and Vigna Ghina: official color art _pic509.jpg|Rafflesia firing Mega Beam Cannons (from Gundam F91 motion picture) Pic506.jpg|Iron Mask inside Rafflesia's cockpit (F91) rafflesiaGBFT.png|Rafflesia as seen on Gundam Build Fighters Try TV series rafflesia-display.jpg|Large scale model of Rafflesia on display (GBFT) Games 019n.jpg|Rafflesia as featured in Gundam: Extreme Vs. video game Diorama Front 3rd Rafflesia.jpg|As seen on the game Gundam Diorama Front 3rd Gundam Diorama Front 3rd XMA-01 Rafflesia.png|As seen on the game Gundam Diorama Front 3rd. Super Gundam Royale Rafflesia.png|As seen on Super Gundam Royale game Super Robot Wars X Rafflesia.png|As seen in Super Robot Wars X Notes & Trivia *The name and concept of the mobile weapon was based on Rafflesia, a genus of parasitic flowering plants found in Southeast Asia. Its shape strongly resembles the form of ''Rafflesia arnoldii '', the largest individual flower in the World. References F91 manual Rafflesia.jpg|Rafflesia: detailed design External Links *XMA-01 Rafflesia on MAHQ.net